The Bronze Brick
by Awesome96Birdy
Summary: Ariana Cliffton is just any normal kid who goes to sleepovers, has friends, loves travel and food... and is on her mission to become a Pokemon master! Join her on her adventure throughout the region of Roria for betrayal, humour and romance! Credits to Nintendo and the creators of Pokemon Brick Bronze.
1. The Start-er of the Journey!

**Disclaimer** : The rights to Pokemon and Pokemon Brick Bronze belong to the creators of Pokemon Brick Bronze on ROBLOX and Nintendo, not me. No profit is being made from this fanfiction, and no words/letters/numbers/symbols were harmed during the making of this fanfiction.

 **Author's Note** : Heya, everybody! I'm the mysterious Awesome96Birdy, and I'll be your author for today! Now, before you ask, and in case you didn't know, Pokemon Brick Bronze was a fangame on ROBLOX which was unfortunately shut down due to copyright issues in April 2018. Since I'm kinda uncreative/lazy (oops!) and don't want to make up my own Pokemon story from scratch, I'm retelling the story of Pokemon Brick Bronze, from the beginning to my imagining of the Roria Elite Four (as the actual Pokemon Brick Bronze only got up to just after the 8th gym) and beyond, into the post-game. Please enjoy this and submit reviews, I'd really like to know what you think! You can also suggest some plotlines for me to include; although I do already have the basic structure planned out, I don't have many of the details down yet. Ideally I'll try to update at least once a week - keep tuned for another chapter coming your way soon!

* * *

 **Chapter 01 - The Start-er of the Journey!**

A cold wind chilled me to the bone, sweeping from place to place. Its glacial grip made me clench my impossibly large coat closer to myself.

"Well, at least you didn't regret taking such a heavy thing with you..." I murmured to myself quietly, trying to make light of a dark situation - it was a winter night, and despite all the preparation I had done prior to my Pokemon journey, I was lost and had no clue whatsoever where I was. Then it came to me - I was trying to make light of a dark situation. _Light_!

"I choose you, Eevee!" I whispered, barely audible in the loud breeze. With a whirl of my only Pokeball so far, my dream Starter Pokemon, Eevee, came out. I was so lucky to be able to be the first one to get to the lab, as Eevee was one of the most sought-for, popular and rare Starter Pokemon. The Eevee gazed up at me in a respectful and obedient way, waiting for further instruction. Then, I realized - my mind was blank, and I had forgotten which moves Eevee had. Hoping it didn't affect its willingness to listen to me too much, I decided to pick a random move which I knew emitted light.

"U-Uh, Eevee? Use... Sunny Day?" I stuttered questioningly. Eevee glared at me and shook its head, all respect fading from its eyes. Clearly, it didn't know that move. I knew right then that I had blown my chance to become a Pokemon master, judging based on the look in its eyes. Now, I just had to hope it didn't hate me too much after that embarrassing failure...

I found out what the answer to that was immediately, as it started whistling, undoubtedly to all its Pokemon friends. Realizing the danger, I tried to run, but a sticky white silk was surrounding me now, holding me in place, probably used as some sort of technique to immobilize foes or prey - most likely from some sort of Bug-type Pokemon, maybe Caterpie, Weedle or Wurmple. Now, I had no choice but to stay there, praying for my life.

From the shadows, a bunch of silhouettes of Pokemon emerged, some familiar to me from my years of research on the subject of Pokemon, some not. I didn't know which was worse - knowing the terrifying capabilities of a Pokemon, or not knowing exactly what horrible things they could do to you. All of a sudden, Eevee and the other unknown Pokemon began coming towards me. I screamed, a high-pitched sound piercing through the wintry air. As they got closer and closer and began to pounce, they got slower and slower, until they were almost moving in slow-motion. In mid-air, they stopped, but my scream got louder and higher, until it began to sound akin to that of an alarm clock ringing...

* * *

I woke up with a shriek, rubbing my eyes to make sure I was in the safety of my house and not the dangerous route where I was previously. Relieved, I realized it was all just a nightmare, and a small smile appeared on my face. Then, I realized that the screaming in my dream was actually the ringing of my alarm clock, which I quickly turned off, confused. Wasn't it Saturday? There was no school today! But another thought materialized in my brain; I had graduated from school yesterday on my quest to become a Pokemon master, just like many other students who were around my age, and today was the day I was going to start my adventure across the region of Roria, the region where I lived. I tried to recall some facts about Roria as I changed out of my pyjamas into my Pokemon-catching outfit, which I had prepared weeks ago, and brushed my teeth.

Roria had no unique regional Pokemon of its own, however, it contained all the Pokemon from seven other regions (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos and Alola), making it very different from the seven previously mentioned other regions, which only contained unique Pokemon from its specific region and a few others from other regions. Roria also had a very varied landscape as well as its variety of different Pokemon, ranging from deserts to beaches, from rural countryside to urban cities. I was so excited to be adventuring across the region, as I had never been outside of Mitis Town and because this was the thing that I had been dreaming of ever since I was a little kid, that I almost forgot to take my Trainer Card with me downstairs - and, in fact, to actually fill it in first.

Grabbing the first pen I found, which coincidentally was my favourite pen (brown with Eevee faces on and brown fur attached to it), and wrote down my name in my neatest handwriting; Ariana Cliffton, and my birthday. I was now 13 years old; old enough to start my adventure. In some other regions, I heard that the minimum age was 10, but after the many incidents with a 10 year old boy named Ash Ketchum and various villainous teams in other regions which had appeared on the news, Roria changed its laws to make the minimum age 13, old enough to "look after yourself", although I didn't really think it mattered what age you were if you were confronted by a villainous team. I hoped I never had to confront any villainous teams myself, as the tales I had heard about them scared me.

Before heading downstairs, I took a quick look at myself in the mirror. My dark brown, straight hair was tied back in a ponytail, and my sparkling emerald-green eyes were staring right back at me inquisitively. I took a deep breath; I'd need to be brave if I was going to be a Pokemon master, then walked downstairs, hoping to see my parents there waiting for me. But, of course, the house was silent, and there was nobody there. My parents were probably still at the Mitis Town Archaeology Site - they were archaeologists, and seemed to think that examining old Pokemon fossils was interesting. I might have thought they were, if I hadn't been given so many lectures about them. Now, I had been thoroughly put off that as a career option; all the more of a reason to become a Pokemon master, as many were rich, famous and renowned for their battling skills. It could earn you a lot more money than being an archaeologist, but only if you succeeded, which was my ultimate goal. Sighing, I walked out of my house eating a sandwich, on my way to the archaeology site to see my parents.

Suddenly, I was tapped from behind. I almost dropped my sandwich as I swivelled around with a yelp. I was relieved to see somebody familiar, and not anybody who wanted to kidnap me or kill me.

"Hey, Ariana! It's me, Jake!" my best friend Jake Connors said, with a huge grin on his face. Jake and I had been friends ever since we met at school when we were little. And no, before you ask - there was nothing romantic between us, and there never had been. We were just friends. He was like my brother, and I could never imagine dating him, but I hoped that he fell in love with somebody great; somebody who he deserved. We were both incredibly enthusiastic about Pokemon, and our lifetime ambitions were both to become Pokemon masters. We used to stay up all night at sleepovers, whispering about all the amazing things we would do when we finally turned 13. And here we were, on the day we'd always dreamed of - together, as we always had been. Even _thinking_ about all the fun we had brought a smile to my face.

"Oh, hey, Jake! You scared me, I was about to drop my sandwich!" I said, shaking my head jokingly.

"Well, I knew you were clumsy, and a scaredy-cat, but I thought your love for food would overpower that!" Jake retorted, punching me on the arm softly.

"Where are your parents?" I asked, looking around in anticipation of some awkward but polite small talk. Jake's parents and mine were good friends; they taught at the local Mitis Town School, but I wasn't too friendly with them, not ever since Mr Connors had given me a detention for doodling little Eevee faces when I was meant to be paying attention in class.

"They're already at the lab," Jake replied, gesturing in the general direction where the Mitis Town Pokemon Lab was located, "because we wanted to get there early - Pikachu and Eevee are both pretty popular, and if I want dibs on that Pikachu, I _have_ to be early." I nodded in understanding, because I had also set my alarm for earlier than I usually would have done. The Mitis Town Pokemon Lab was where every child aged 13 in the vicinity of Mitis Town went there to collect their first ever Pokemon, also known as a Starter Pokemon. To my knowledge, there was another one in Anthian City, the capital of Roria. There were 23 breeds of Starter Pokemon in the Lab, and the Pokemon you got was based on a first come first serve basis, with Pikachu and Eevee commonly being the first ones to go. Since I had my eyes set on Eevee and Jake had his on Pikachu, we would both have to rush there now.

"Alright, cool. Well, I'm going to find my parents. Did you see them at the lab, or are they still at the archaeology site?" I asked, wondering whether they had already placed dibs on Eevee for me as a surprise.

"Nah, they weren't at the lab, they're probably still at the archaeology site." Jake answered, fidgeting. I could tell that he was desperate to get away, to claim his Pikachu. So was I; I hoped my parents wouldn't take _too_ long packing away all their tools, or the Eevee would be gone.

"I can tell you wanna leave - so you can go! I'll see you at the lab. Bye, Jake!" I said, hugging him - of course, only in a platonic way.

"Bye, Ariana! I'll be waiting right there for you! I hope I get to video your reaction when you get your Eevee!" Jake called, already running off. I watched him until he was just a small figure in the distance, before heading off to the archaeology site.

As I walked through Mitis Town, I saw the houses of my friends and neighbours, some of whom were only just beginning to wake up. A river ran through our town, where some fishermen caught fish to sell at the market at Decca Beach, as there were different kinds of fish in the different climates of Roria; here, you could find Magikarps and Gyarados, as I learnt on a school field trip when a Gyarados leapt out of the river to scare me and my classmates to death. Although Jake wouldn't like to admit it, he had nightmares for weeks due to that incident. A bridge allowed you to cross the river, and beyond the bridge was Route 1, where I was planning to go after I had obtained my Eevee. I was very excited to actually be in Route 1, as I had only ever caught short glimpses of it on my way to school from my house, and I never really saw anything particularly interesting.

I approached the archaeology site, which was through a rocky cave with some torches on it to light up the entrance. This was where my mum and dad would be now, and surely enough, I could hear their voices echoing around the relatively empty area. I turned around a corner and saw them sealing up a cave with yellow and black tape. Not wanting to disturb them from what they were doing, I stood there, waiting for them to finish up.

"It's not safe for us to go any further into that cave, and you know it, Dom." my mum insisted, looking worried.

"I know, I know, Sara. But what we found in there is fascinating, and - " my dad said, before he was cut off by my mum.

"ENOUGH, Dom! That thing is dangerous, _extremely_ dangerous. We're sealing it up for a reason - not just for our safety, but for the safety of the whole of Roria." Mum interrupted in a calm but concerned voice. That was when I realized I was eavesdropping, albeit unintentionally, but this conversation was too interesting to ignore. Wanting to know what they had found and what it had to do with anybody else in the region, I continued listening.

"Yes, yes, I agree. We can't just leave it there, though, we have to take it with us." Dad said wearily. From that tone of voice, I knew that they must have been up all night while I was asleep trying to figure out what it was.

"Oh, that is true... fine. But we can't tell a single soul; we can't even tell Ariana." Mum said in a firm voice, which signified that it was not up for further discussion. "Got it?"

"Well, maybe we could tell that new professor..." Dad said, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. Mum had a hot temper if she lost her patience, and I could tell that he didn't want to ignite the spark that could set it off.

"Hmm. Maybe." Mum said quietly, before whipping round.

"Oh, hello, Ariana!" she exclaimed in an exaggeratedly bright voice. For a second, I wondered if I should ask them what they were talking about, but I knew it would only land me in trouble, as they were definitely not prepared to tell anybody except the new professor. Then, my train of thought led onto where Professor Maple was, but I realized she was quite old and had probably retired. I would have stood there, silent for a bit longer, contemplating my thoughts, but my mum was looking at me expectantly, and my dad had turned round too. I supposed they were hoping I hadn't heard too much, and so I decided to pretend I had heard nothing at all.

"Hey! I just got here. Please don't tell me you forgot what day it is?" I said, half-joking and half-not, as I knew they were often too distracted by their 'highly interesting' work to think about anything else.

"No, of _course_ not, champ! It's the day you get your first Pokemon! We can't wait!" Dad said, ruffling my hair fondly. I didn't particularly like it when he messed up my hair like that because I had to readjust it, but it was just an old tradition now to help relieve my nerves - and surprisingly, it works.

"Oh, Ariana... you've grown so much..." Mum said weepily, bringing me close for a hug. She got out a handkerchief and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Aww, c'mon, Mum! Save the waterworks for when I'm actually leaving. Right now, we have to get there quick if I wanna get that Eevee - and you betcha I do!" I said, feeling both touched and embarrassed. "So come on!"

"Alright, alright, we're coming!" Dad said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes, but I knew he was joking from his laugh. I would really miss them when I left, but now wasn't the time to dwell on things like that - now was the time to hurry, before the Eevee was gone, and for all I knew, it could have already gone!

We raced out of the archaeology site, past the houses and the bridge, and into the Mitis Town Pokemon Lab. Panting, we walked into the room next to the entrance room, where we knew the Starter Pokemon and the new Professor were located. Jake was already there, waiting for me faithfully, of course, and fiddling with his black hair without knowing he was doing it. But that was the first time I got to see the new Professor, and he wasn't exactly what I expected. He had dark brown hair and glasses, and was wearing a smart suit - with no lab coat, surprisingly.

"Hello, there. I'm Professor Cypress, the new professor in town. I replaced Professor Maple who recently retired, in case you didn't know. I assume you're Ariana?" the new Professor, who was apparently called Professor Cypress, said, holding his hand out politely.

"Hiya. Yeah, I am. I'm here to get my Starter Pokemon." I said, holding back a fit of giggles as Jake made funny faces behind Cypress's back.

"O...K. Well, you'll need to know some things first." Cypress said unsurely, glancing backwards. Jake immediately stopped and pretended to look like he was examining his nails.

"Sure, go ahead!" I almost shouted, eager to get on with it, but also wanting to hear what the professor had to say.

"Pokemon are our friends, and we grow alongside them. They grow, and in some cases, evolve and change form into a different Pokemon, as we battle with them. Your Pokemon will grow to love you as you adventure with them, if you treat them well." Professor Cypress said carefully. I could tell that he had planned his words out, and was possibly planning to use this speech for all the 13 year olds who were going to come to collect their Pokemon today.

"I didn't actually know that before." Jake said in his best imitation of his dad's voice when he was teaching in class, which forced me to cover my mouth with my hand to hide my cheesy grin.

"I'm glad you learned something, but there are many things we still haven't learnt about Pokemon, and there are still many undiscovered ones out there." Professor Cypress informed us. I nodded courteously. "Now, enough with the talk. It's time for you to choose your Starter Pokemon, Ariana! There are 21 Pokeballs still here and each have a label detailing which species they are and which region they were originally from."

"Oh, that's _easy_! I choose Eevee!" I exclaimed, practically jumping up and down with joy.

"Ah... I'm sorry, but Jake has already chosen that." Professor Cypress said to me apologetically. I glared at Jake with narrowed eyes as a piercing feeling of betrayal chilled my heart. How could he? He knew I had wanted Eevee since I was a child, he had listened to me plan out my future life enough times.

"Jake... why?" I said, conflicted between feeling sad or angry, between dropping the grudge or holding it, between lashing out or staying silent.

"I'm so sorry, Ariana... Pikachu had already been taken, you see, and I didn't know what else to pick..." Jake muttered, at least having the decency to look ashamed with himself. "I can always trade this Eevee for whatever Pokemon you pick if you like?"

"It's too late now, your Eevee has already probably grown attached to you. I'll find my own Eevee, out there in the wild, someday." I said after a long silence, finally deciding to be the 'bigger person' and forgive him.

"Are you sure? They're incredibly rare, you know..." Jake asked, holding out his Pokeball.

"Yeah, I am. In a way, I suppose you've done me a favour - if I find an Eevee, I'll be really respected by everybody in Roria, because they only appear when they respect the Trainer who is hunting for them." I said, realizing that this could actually be a good thing, in some ways. "You do owe me, though."

"Yup! I'm just glad you're still friends with me." Jake said happily, with a big and unforced grin.

"So am I." I replied, attempting to smile back, although inside I wanted to collapse. I was so nervous; I hadn't even contemplated which Pokemon I would choose if I couldn't get Eevee, because I was so confident that I w _ould_ get it! I pulled my fingers across the Pokeballs slowly and thought carefully. I supposed that if I had to choose between a Fire-type, Water-type or Grass-type, I would choose a Fire-type, to match my battling style; more offense than defense. I narrowed my options down to seven with that; Charmander, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Tepig, Fennekin and Litten. I didn't particularly like Cyndaquil, Chimchar, Tepig, or Litten - which left me with three. Charmander, Torchic, Fennekin. _Charmander, Torchic, Fennekin..._ _Charmander, Torchic, Fennekin...?_ Finally, after what seemed like the longest 5 minutes of my life, I made the tricky decision on what Starter Pokemon I chose. It could make or break my whole career as a Pokemon trainer, but I knew that this was what I wanted.

"I choose you!" I exclaimed, taking my chosen Pokeball and throwing it. Jake, my parents and the Professor had all been placing verbal bets on what I would pick, and they were shocked to see what emerged from the red and white ball which contained my first ever Pokemon...

* * *

 **What Starter Pokemon do you think Ariana will pick - Charmander, Torchic or Fennekin? Read the next chapter of The Bronze Brick to find out!**


	2. A Fiery Rivalry!

**Disclaimer** : The rights to Pokemon and Pokemon Brick Bronze belong to the creators of Pokemon Brick Bronze on ROBLOX and Nintendo, not me. No profit is being made from this fanfiction, and no words/letters/numbers/symbols were harmed during the making of this fanfiction.

 **Author's Note** : Hello everybody! I'll give everybody a quick update of my life, I guess. Today, we had our premiere performance of our school play, Beauty and the Beast (well, there was one before but that was only to a local primary school and a couple of sixth formers and students who helped with the props). I think it went pretty well! In case you were wondering, in the play I am a baker known as 'Dick' (yes, what a lovely name!) and my specialty is baking potato-flavoured bread rolls. Yes, yes, I may have added a bit of a flavoursome and dramatic backstory to my character while bored, but what else could you expect from me, a really flipping dramatic fanfiction author who loves ending her chapters on cliffhangers? Anyway, please do submit more reviews! I love hearing what you guys think of my fanfiction! Now, stop reading this silly thing, and enjoy reading the actual chapter! Have fun! :D

* * *

 **Chapter 02 - A Fiery Rivalry!**

"I choose you!" I exclaimed, taking my chosen Pokeball and throwing it. Jake, my parents and the Professor had all been placing verbal bets on what I would pick, and they were shocked to see what emerged from the red and white ball which contained my first ever Pokemon...

A small orange chick came out, pecking around nervously. Its cute mannerisms weren't the only reason I picked it, but I had to admit, that did play a large part. Another reason was that it would evolve into Blaziken eventually, which had a very powerful Mega Evolution, and it was a bird. If there was anything I loved more than an Eevee, it was a bird; any bird, in fact, because I wasn't picky about it. My decision between Charmander, Torchic and Fennekin was very tough. I loved how Fennekin was so feminine and I loved its design, but I didn't want to come off as a girly-girl, which was the very opposite of me. Charmander's evolutions, Charizard, also had two Mega Evolutions, but Charizard was notably hard to control if it did not respect you, and I didn't want to take that risk. Therefore, the choice of Torchic was perfect for me.

Cries of "Haha! I knew it! Pay up, guys!", "Aww, your new Pokemon is so cute!", "I love it! It's such a strong Pokemon already!" and "Whoa, Torchic is so cool! I can't wait to battle it!" erupted from Jake, Mum, Dad and Jake again respectively. Cypress stood silent, with a small smile on his face, until the commotion was over, and everybody had calmed down. With all the shouting that had been going on, I would be surprised if he didn't have a headache by now.

"Congratulations on choosing your first Pokemon, Ariana! I'm sure it will be a great companion for your adventures through Roria." the Professor said in a serious but amused voice. I blushed as I looked over to my dad, who had the biggest grin on his face, my mum, who was trying to cuddle Torchic, and Jake, who was trying not to laugh but failing.

"Thanks, Professor! In fact, thanks to all of you! But Mum, I think you should stop with the hug now, before Torchic suffocates." I said, noticing the expression on Torchic's face which clearly screamed "Help me, please!".

"O-Oh, yes. Sorry, Torchic." Mum stuttered, letting go of it. Slowly, I saw the orange colour return to its face.

"Alright, is there anything else I need, Professor?" I asked the Professor politely, hoping that if there was it would be quick.

"Indeed there is. You need a Pokedex." the Professor informed me, handing over a red device with lots of buttons. "The Pokedex has lots of functions. It can record what Pokemon you have caught, tell you more information about the Pokemon you see if you scan it, and send pings to people if you know their Pokedex ID. It can also even serve as a form of ID in case you are accused of criminal activities, which is unlikely. Have a fiddle with it."

"Hmm... What's my ID, Pokedex?" I asked it, hoping I wasn't making a fool of myself.

"Ariana Cliffton is a 13-year-old Pokemon trainer from Mitis Town in Roria." the Pokedex intoned, complete with a really cringy photo of me.

"Eww..." I said, trailing off to glare at Jake when he started giggling.

"Okay, sorry... mine's probably worse..." Jake snorted, still laughing. I rolled my eyes sarcastically, knowing that Jake would never cease to find an opportunity to tease me through this whole journey.

"You should try scanning your Torchic into the Pokedex too, actually!" Mum exclaimed enthusiastically, squeezing the Torchic again until it started coughing, at which point she let it go.

"And you should give it a nickname!" Dad said, clapping his hands in excitement like a little kid. "How about... Hot Chick?"

"Uh, no _way_." I emphasized, shaking my head in mock horror. "I'll call Torchic... hmm... ooh, I know! I'll call Torchic Nova!" I said with glee. I hugged it, but nowhere near as tight as Mum did, and it snuggled up to me, feeling safe already. I smiled at it, full of love for this small chick, and it tweeted back in an adorable way.

"Hi, not to interrupt this coochy-coochy moment or anything before you two kiss, but you were going to scan Nova into your Pokedex, weren't you?" Jake reminded me with his usual cheeky grin.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks, Jake." I said, half-grateful and half-mad at him. I held up my Pokedex, and immediately a picture of a Torchic appeared and it started speaking.

"Torchic, the Chick Pokemon. Torchic has a place inside its body where it keeps its flame. Give it a hug - it will be glowing with warmth. This Pokemon is covered all over by a fluffy coat of down." the Pokedex announced before closing itself down.

"Oh my goshhh, that's so cuuute!" I gushed, nuzzling it close while trying to resist the temptation to squeeze Nova like my mum did. "Wow, it really is warm!"

"I know, right? I felt it when I hugged it!" Mum said, looking at Nova fondly.

"Please don't take this as another cue to hug Nova, Sara..." Dad muttered, barely audible and only 10% joking.

"Wow, soppy much, but I have to agree - that Pokedex entry _is_ pretty cute." Jake admitted with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up, Jake." I said with a pointed sideways glance at him. I didn't think I would ever understand how his system functioned if he didn't totally melt over cuteness like that.

"Well, I think you're all done there, Ariana. You can get Nova to return now, and then you can leave the lab to proceed on your Pokemon journey. Have fun!" Professor Cypress said cheerily, with a wave. I had a sense that he couldn't wait for the next 20 Starters to be given out, so he could rest, and could stop repeating the same words over and over again. I sympathized; I would feel that way too if I was in his position.

"Nova, return!" I cried, holding out my Pokeball. Undoubtedly, that Pokeball would now be super warm and cosy, perfect for my little Nova. Obediently, it fluttered in. I could tell already that we were going to be the best of friends, and that Nova was definitely going to help me on my journey to become a Pokemon master!

"Hey, Mum, Dad, are you coming to the bridge to see me off?" I asked them, hoping that they wouldn't before I got too emotional. I was already on the verge of tears, from both joy and sadness.

"Oh, yes, of course! But first, we need to have a little chat with Professor Cypress. We'll meet you there!" Mum promised, smiling at me.

"You and Jake should go there now and wait for us. Jake's parents are already there, I saw them on the way to the lab." Dad suggested, gesturing towards the bridge, which could be seen from the window.

Secretly, I wondered whether their conversation with Cypress would be about the object they had discovered in the cave earlier, and I was thoroughly tempted to eavesdrop. However, I knew that I already knew too much, and that they could just be trying to shield me from some sort of danger. They would most likely tell me when they were ready, anyway, or I would find out from Jake; he knew all of the gossip in this small town.

"Alright. Bye, Professor Cypress, and see you later, Mum and Dad! Jake, are you coming?" I asked, waving prematurely.

"Well, yeah - but that wasn't exactly what I was thinking. We have ages; why go so soon?" Jake said, clearly hoping that I would get his point - which I didn't, not one bit.

"Uh, what are you talking about? There's nothing left to do here - I mean, we've already got our Starter Pokemon..." I muttered, stretching my brain. What could he possibly want to do here? Change his mind and exchange his Eevee for my Torchic? I was preparing to tell him that he didn't have to do that, because it would be much more satisfying for me to find an Eevee, the rarest of all Starters, myself in the wild, when he butted in, interrupting my train of thought.

"Exactly! We've already got our Starter Pokemon, so let's go into the other room and battle!" Jake cried excitedly, gripping his Pokeball tightly. I was confused for a second, until a huge smile wiped out any traces of sadness at leaving my parents behind in Mitis Town. All I could think about was how we had been waiting for years to get our own Pokemon and finally have our first Pokemon battle. I never thought that our first Pokemon battles would be with each other, but I supposed it was always destined to be like that, since after all, we were best friends, and both super crazy about Pokemon.

"Yesss! Let's do this!" I yelled, running into the other room. Jake soon followed suit, a determined half-grimace half-grin on his face.

"Alright, then. A one on one Pokemon battle it is! This will be tense, and, uh..." Jake trailed off, struggling to find an adjective to complete his sentence. With a chuckle, I decided to finish it for him.

"...intense?" I suggested, with the cheekiest smirk that had ever formed on my face.

"Ugh, Ariana! Be _serious_! I know we both know how Pokemon battles go, but I'm afraid I'll mess up and forget, so can you recap the rules for me?" Jake groaned, undoubtedly feeling a bit ashamed to be deferring to my 'superior' knowledge, which he almost did, with the amount of pride he had. After all, I _had_ won the annual Pokemon Trivia Quiz for 3 years in a row, and he had almost always lost to me in the finals, except that one time 4 years ago when he had actually succeeded in beating me. His luck soon went downhill, however.

"Okay, sure. Well, in a Pokemon battle, the trainers both send out Pokemon. They instruct the Pokemon to perform moves - a list of moves that the Pokemon can currently learn with its level of experience can be found by using the Pokedex. A Pokemon will have a set number of Health Points. Health Points are determined based on how many hits the Pokemon would be able to endure, how strong its will is, how many battles it has taken part in and how healthy it is, which is greatly helped by how the owner treats it - although I have no doubt we'll both treat our Pokemon well. The number of moves it can learn and use will increase as the Pokemon's experience increases, and so will its attack and defense. When a Pokemon's Health Points are completely wiped out, it will faint, and the next Pokemon will be called out, until a player has already sent out their maximum amount of Pokemon. In this case though, there's only one Pokemon per person, so we don't really need to worry about that, or switching out, really. Got it?" I inquired, taking a deep breath. I swore that was the longest time I had ever held my breath, including the times when I had tried swimming underwater in the Mitis River underneath the bridge that leaded to Route 1.

"Wow, a lotta information to take in. But bravo, well explained! Also yeah, I think I've got it... let's begin! I can heal both of our Pokemon after the battle." Jake announced happily. "Paci, I choose you!"

With a fancy flourish of Jake's Pokeball, his Eevee - Paci - came out with one of the cutest simpers I had ever seen. My heart almost melted, until I remembered that this was not my Eevee, and that Paci was, in fact, the enemy. Shaking my head to clear it of nonsense which would prevent me from being able to finish it off in the end, I concentrated and put my game face on.

"Hmm. Lucky thing I've been studying Eevee ever since I could walk, eh?" I joked, only half-teasing.

"Yeah, yeah, save the banter for after we've done. Let's speed this up a bit, I don't want it to be dark when we leave Mitis Town." Jake retorted, pulling a face.

"Whatever. Well, Nova, I choose _you_!" I shouted, whirling my Pokeball around as fast as I could. Nova popped out, looking at me confidently, almost as if to say "I've got this.".

"I believe in you, Nova. No matter what the result is, you'll do great. Don't be discouraged if we lose, but we probably won't; Paci will be no match for you!" I whispered. It let out a noise that sounded similar to a laugh, which made me giggle. I looked over and saw that Jake was doing the same thing with Paci. Paci and Nova faced each other and nodded in a friendly but competitive way. I was sure that their relationship would be just like mine with Jake's; a little rocky occasionally, but we would always stay loyal to each other and would always stand up for each other, even if we were forced to be rivals - however, we wouldn't let our friendship distract us from whatever competition we were in, like the annual Pokemon Spelling Bee, where we would always ruthlessly compete to get to the finals, but whoever got through would always lose to Max Bardwell, who had memorized pretty much all the Pokemon spellings. Once I had almost beat Max, but had lost in the tiebreaker when I failed to spell Sylveon right to my eternal shame, spelling it as 'Silveon'. Jake had never let me forget, especially since it was an Eeveelution, and I was obsessed with Eevee. However, there was no time for me to be distracted by old memories, so I brought myself back to the present.

"I'm guessing we're both done with our pep talks, now?" I asked, feeling really proud of Nova already.

"I'd prefer to call them motivational speeches, but sure. Now, let's properly begin! Paci, use Tail Whip!" Jake cried, switching from joking mode to competitive mode in a flash, as he had already done. I realized his joking was made to catch me off my guard for when the actual game begun. Paci flicked its tail, and dust flew into Nova's eyes. Now its vision was impaired, so it wouldn't be able to dodge as easily. However, it could still sense where Paci was, and would still be able to aim at it.

"Good move, there - but not good enough. Nova, use Ember!" I instructed, pointing at Paci, as if that could do any good, as Nova couldn't see me.

"Paci, run in zigzags to dodge it!" Jake yelled. As the burst of flame headed in Paci's direction, Paci ran around in zigzags while ducking, and didn't suffer the full force of the flame; however, Paci didn't seem to be feeling too well, as there was ash all over it. The top part of it, especially the ears, had suffered the most, but it clearly wasn't enough to bring Paci down. Determinedly, Paci glanced at Jake for further instruction.

"Alright, Paci! Good job! Now, run towards Nova in zigzags so it won't know where to aim at, and then Scratch it as hard as you can, as much as you can, while changing your positions each time!" Jake said with a smirk in my direction. It was clear that he had thought this out while I was choosing my Starter Pokemon. No wonder he had seemed so distracted.

"Try to avoid the Scratches, Nova! Run away as fast as you can!" I said, beginning to panic now, but still trying to keep calm for Nova's sake. Nova, sadly, ran into the wall, bumped its head, and landed flat on the ground.

"No! Nova!" I screeched, reaching out my hand. Nova was slumped against the wall with its eyes shut as tightly as possible, and its beak quivering. Would my first Pokemon battle really end in such an anticlimatic way? Would Jake really have been right all these years when he said I was all bark and no bite? Would Nova really give up so easily, without a fight?

* * *

 **Is Nova going to live up to its explosive and powerful name, or would Ariana have really been better off choosing Paci? Find out in the next chapter of The Bronze Brick!**


End file.
